Hobby Shack Decides It’s Time to Upgrade Name

After 27 years as Hobby Shack, the Fountain Valley-based retailer of hobby products is changing its name to Hobby People.

“We feel we’ve outgrown the ‘Shack,’ ” said Gary Bender, chief financial officer of the 13-store chain, which also has outlets in La Habra and Mission Viejo. “It’s just more personable to call it Hobby People than to call it Hobby Shack.”

The name change will be implemented gradually over the next six months. The new Las Vegas store, the first to open outside California, already bears the new name.

Other changes are also afoot for the company, which is doubling the size of its headquarters to 60,000 square feet and making plans to expand into additional states. “In the next 12 to 24 months, we’ll be moving into Arizona, Northern California, Utah and Colorado,” President Matt Fales said.

The company said its growth is being fueled partly by products it has been adding in recent years to appeal to youngsters.

Hobby Shack, which was initially a mail-order company, opened its first store in 1972. At first, the business was devoted almost exclusively to selling model airplanes. In the 1980s, the company added more products, including remote-controlled cars and helicopters. And in the 1990s, it started selling such children’s toys as radio-controlled robots, flying saucers, microscopes and “build and play” houses.

Once content to occupy “warehouse-type” locations, the company has, over the decades, begun opening more high-profile stores. Its new West Los Angeles store is across the street from Nordstrom. One more reason, perhaps, for dumping the name “Shack.”